First off let it be known that PPP does not condone, encourage or support kids ghosthunting. We will not accept link exchanges from paranormal teams whose members are minors, and we consider young teens to be minors as well. There are many dangers in the paranormal field, that TV shows do not show you. As a hostile haunts specialist of more than three decades, I can tell you that malevolent entities often target children on a regular basis. They are the most vulnerable targets for bad spirits. So why would we want to encourage kids to go out seeking spirits at random?

Most kids go to abandoned houses and cemeteries to ghost hunt. There is danger from the living at these places as that is even more deadly than danger from the dead. A teen girl was shot about a year ago, while ghosthunting at what she and her friends thought was an abandoned haunted home. The home was occupied and had been burglarized before, so the man shot the intruder, and asked questions later. The girl was in critical condition last I heard. Another young girl was raped at a cemetery when she got separated from her friends ghosthunting. Kids can fall through the floors of unsound structures that they seek to investigate in old abandoned buildings, is this safe?

I think we need to step back from the circus that has become the paranormal field, and take a look at what we are promoting to the public. TV shows that encourage kids to ghost hunt, are money driven entertainment. Parents need to police what their kids do and talk to them about this topic and stress that it may not be a safe hobby to take up for fun and games. Remind them that not everything they see on TV, is "reality " or safe to undertake.

When my son was 12 he was very interested in the paranormal. He did some research on the PC for us, he was learning quite a bit about it, but he did "not" go on case investigations and he did not ghost hunt with his friends. He was informed and aware of the dangers of such. Now that he is older he has joined this team. I still closely watch and supervise him as he is still young and inexperienced. When he was young he was approached many times by friends, who wanted to ghost hunt ,as they knew he came from a paranormal family in the field. He told them all the reasons why he would not join them. He also tried to dissuade them from the whole endeavor. They seldom listened to him. They see kids ghost hunting, on cartoon Network., a TV station for kids which puts out a show called, "The Othersiders" which features a bunch of child ghost hunters. The paranormal community rallied together with petitions and appeals to the station, not to release this show, but money making is more important, so it went on the air anyway. Shows like this give kids the impression that this is a fun and safe hobby, and downplay the real dangers of the paranormal.

A friend of mine in the field, had a case, where a haunting ensued after a parent bought a child an emf meter and a tape recorder, and allowed him to indulge his ghost hunting interest. The ten year old child was only allowed to look for spirits outside of the house. What the parent did not realize, is that once a person, in this case the child, extends an invitation to connect with a spirit, the spirit can follow them right into the home or anywhere for that matter. A spirit is not a pet that you can restrict to the back yard. Lack of education about the dangers of the paranormal, is what moved this parent to make this mistake. Another common error made by parents is thinking that their child's ghostly friend is another child and therefore it is harmless. Nothing could be further from the truth here. We have a responsibility to protect our kids from all sorts of dangers, but people do not realize the realities of paranormal danger to children or even adults, when they indulge in ghost hunting. They do not know the scenario of spirit attachment which happens often with kids. Before you allow your child to delve into a dangerous realm of unknown predatory entities, learn all you can and consider the child's safety above all else.

We can not stop kids from doing what they are determined to do, but we can try and advise them of the dangers and discourage them, from that which is not in their best interest. We also might want to teach our kids respect and reverence for the departed and instill the idea that searching into the other side, should be a spiritual as well as a scientific endeavor, and that we all should have respect for spirit. We are not being spiritual when we are harassing those on the other side and tempting fate to prove to us that we are immortal and that there is a God. That is a shallow endeavor and at times a dangerous hobby to take up. I have seen paranormal teams, that have a team of junior investigators that are children from the ages of 8 to 16. When I see this, I know that these folks haven't got the first clue about what goes on in the paranormal field. If they do not even know enough to protect their own children, how can they possibly be of help to anyone who has a real haunting? I advise everyone to steer clear of such teams when seeking real paranormal help.

Spirits can and do affect children in negative ways, if the spirit is malevolent or predatory. They can cause night terrors, anxiety, emotional issues, and even what can be akin to schizophrenia down the road. They can hurt them physically as well. I know that ,as I was hurt physically ,very badly by a spirit, as a child. So protect your children from those who would seek to hurt them in this realm and the next. Don't let your kids ghost hunt. Using a tape recorder to contact the spirit world is just as dangerous if not more so, than using a Ouija board which many people consider to be a dangerous practice. I wish some of the folks who condone ghost hunting for kids, could talk to some of my former clients whose children have been targeted by a malevolent spirit, maybe then they might realize how vulnerable kids are. Some of the children I have helped were not even out ghost hunting, they were just the unfortunate focus of a malevolent spirit who decided to take up residence there, or whom was already there when they moved in. The trauma of a bad haunting can be devastating for a kid. I know i was one of those kids. I never asked for it, I just moved into the wrong house. I have taken case after case with hauntings that started with ghost hunting. Adults have brought these problems on themselves and their families by ghost hunting. How much more vulnerable are kids to a malevolent entity? Encourage your kids to take up a more healthy and safe hobby. Ghost hunting is just not beneficial to anyone especially kids.